In 2010 they did a live-action version of "Space Battleship Yamato" in Japan. The task was to tie up like 13 hour TV series in a 2 hour movie. There was no way to please everyone. What they decided was "This is a standalone. There will be no sequels. Not even if we want them." This simplified things massively. Then they grabbed a few cool characters they liked from the 2nd series, and stuck them on board here, where they actually helped. They held to the basic plot, and were OCD about it where it mattered, but were wildly divergent where they felt it didn't. The most gutsy aspect of this were the bad guy aliens, who, ahem, I wont' even tell you what they did. It was the kind of thing that should have made me scream, but in the altered context I was like, "Yes, this works. This makes sense."

Basically, they were faithful to the details where they mattered, faithful to the spirt when the details didn't matter, and went their own way whenever they could get away with it. And it ended up being pretty good.

Your pitch sounds kinda' like that.

__________________
Sincerely,

Kevin Long
(The Artist Formerly Known As Republibot 3.0, And The World's Greatest Living Thurl Ravenscroft Impersonator)http://www.kevin-long.com

If it's going to be 'Babylon 5' then it has to have 'Babylon 5' in it. What is the point of calling a movie 'Babylon 5' if it's about something else entirely?

Theres enough story in that 5 year arc to rip a chunk out and make a feature.

Which raises the question we've all been avoiding: Do we wanna even call it Babylon 5?

Would the name recognition even help at this point, or would it be a hinderance as we're kinda' on the ash heap of pop culture history? Might be best to just call it something completely new, and assume no built in audience.

__________________
Sincerely,

Kevin Long
(The Artist Formerly Known As Republibot 3.0, And The World's Greatest Living Thurl Ravenscroft Impersonator)http://www.kevin-long.com

"J. Michael Straczysnki has announced plans for a Babylon 5 feature film, which is expected to enter production in 2016.

Speaking at San Diego Comic Con last week, Straczsynki announced that he would soon be sitting down to write a Babylon 5 feature film, which is envisioned as a reboot of the iconic sci-fi series. JMS said that he plans to get the script locked down by the end of 2015 and the film would then enter production the following year in 2016.

Next to nothing is known about the plot for this Babylon 5 feature film, beyond the fact that it is a reboot of the concept seen in the series. That said, J. Michael Straczynski has stated that he would like to use cast members from the series, such as Bruce Boxleitner and Mira Furlan, in new roles in the feature film. “I’d love to see Bruce as the President of the Earth Alliance”, he said."

In 2010 they did a live-action version of "Space Battleship Yamato" in Japan. The task was to tie up like 13 hour TV series in a 2 hour movie. There was no way to please everyone. What they decided was "This is a standalone. There will be no sequels. Not even if we want them." This simplified things massively. Then they grabbed a few cool characters they liked from the 2nd series, and stuck them on board here, where they actually helped. They held to the basic plot, and were OCD about it where it mattered, but were wildly divergent where they felt it didn't. The most gutsy aspect of this were the bad guy aliens, who, ahem, I wont' even tell you what they did. It was the kind of thing that should have made me scream, but in the altered context I was like, "Yes, this works. This makes sense."

Basically, they were faithful to the details where they mattered, faithful to the spirt when the details didn't matter, and went their own way whenever they could get away with it. And it ended up being pretty good.

Your pitch sounds kinda' like that.

Thank you. I guess this is what happens when I get bored at work. It just seemed to me that some of the major plot points would necessarily have to change, otherwise where’s the fun for us old school fans?!

I really must check out the live action Yamoto film, sounds like its worth my time. Japanese nationalism in space always did appeal!

If it's going to be 'Babylon 5' then it has to have 'Babylon 5' in it. What is the point of calling a movie 'Babylon 5' if it's about something else entirely?
Theres enough story in that 5 year arc to rip a chunk out and make a feature.

Good point. I suppose it really depends where JMS mind is at as to the ‘reboot’. Logically, I would assume he want to use this as a fresh start, so he can set a new baseline and then expand on it from there. The film could lead into a new TV series, with WB blessing, or it could be a series of films, which seems more likely. It all depends on where JMS wants to take it. To be a success, I think it has to start with a clean slate, essentially ignoring current continuity. No new audience is going to watch 5 years worth of TV to appreciate a feature film. Same was true of Serenity in relation to Firefly. Although, I will say this… it annoyed me deeply that all the characters were set back to square one. Rich, well rounded characters from the show characters had become ‘angry sarcastic captain’ and ‘crazy girl’. However, I understand why it needed to be done, and it was still amazing the film was made at all. As SF fans, we so often have to settle for less than what we deserve!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Republibot 3.0

Which raises the question we've all been avoiding: Do we wanna even call it Babylon 5?

Would the name recognition even help at this point, or would it be a hinderance as we're kinda' on the ash heap of pop culture history? Might be best to just call it something completely new, and assume no built in audience.

Good point. Most of the enduring pop culture references to B5 are sadly, overwhelmingly negative. ‘Babylon 5 was a big pile of shit’ from SPACED is one that gets quoted ad nauseam. In the context of the episode it’s very funny, and is totally on the mark in terms of geek culture / comic shop type banter. But, it doesn’t really help the cause. Then there’s The Big Bang Theory, which constantly rubbishes the show via Sheldon. It’s the old Trek vs B5 thing. For the record I absolutely loathe The Big Bang Theory, it’s about as funny as Friends was, i.e. NOT FUNNY AT ALL. It’s an awful co-opting of geek culture with no real respect for it. Anyway, that’s probably a thread unto itself. Then there’s the reference in Breaking Bad, which was fairly neutral, only meant to indicate the character loved SF TV. It was a nice in joke for those who knew Cranston had been in B5.

So, on that evidence, maybe the B5 ‘brand’ doesn’t really help that much. If the general response it garners for your average punter is ‘wasn’t that show really shit?, will it do a feature film any favours?

Conversely, you have to factor in all the fans of the original series. Those people like us, who have very fond memories of the TV show and want more. I know the size of the B5 fandom pales in comparison to say Trek, but we are a passionate bunch and I’ve converted plenty of friends by sitting them doing and binge watching the show.

I tend to think the film will have the same spirit of the B5 we love and know, but will differ in interesting ways. So, it should probably retain the tagline, Babylon 5.

This thing better get made, so we can find out! Although, I will have enjoyed the discussion it generated even if it doesn’t.

Space Battleship Yamato is pretty awesome. The live-action movie is a little too long and a little too talkie, and perhaps a littel too influenced by the RDM Galactica, but I came out of it dropjawed because of how low my expectations were (I read the Disney treatment fro 20 years ago for their abandoned project) and just how much clear love they had for it. I don't mean useless Star Trek: The Motion Picture love, I mean actual, functional, "We have to have this, and this, and this, those two things would be cool, anything else we can ditch, and these seven new things have to be here, otherwise there's n o point"

__________________
Sincerely,

Kevin Long
(The Artist Formerly Known As Republibot 3.0, And The World's Greatest Living Thurl Ravenscroft Impersonator)http://www.kevin-long.com

Ubik said >>>Good point. I suppose it really depends where JMS mind is at as to the ‘reboot’. Logically, I would assume he want to use this as a fresh start, so he can set a new baseline and then expand on it from there. The film could lead into a new TV series, with WB blessing, or it could be a series of films, which seems more likely. It all depends on where JMS wants to take it.<<<

One of my kids had an interesting comment the other day: "Just make a movie with a cool name. Make it something new that no one's ever heard of before, just a cool-seeming space adventure that everyone goes into cold. Then, halfway through, have President Sheridan turn up on TV and give a speech, or something. Nothing major. It's a self-contained story that happens to be set in the B5 universe, but it's got no direct connection to anythign we've seen before. If fans catch it, cool. If not, who cares? If people are interested, they'll look into B5. If not, again, who cares? You made a good movie."

I thought it was neat.

UBIK said: >> Same was true of Serenity in relation to Firefly. Although, I will say this… it annoyed me deeply that all the characters were set back to square one. Rich, well rounded characters from the show characters had become ‘angry sarcastic captain’ and ‘crazy girl’.<<<

Yeah, I was pretty disappointed by that movie, too.

__________________
Sincerely,

Kevin Long
(The Artist Formerly Known As Republibot 3.0, And The World's Greatest Living Thurl Ravenscroft Impersonator)http://www.kevin-long.com

If it's going to be 'Babylon 5' then it has to have 'Babylon 5' in it. What is the point of calling a movie 'Babylon 5' if it's about something else entirely?

Theres enough story in that 5 year arc to rip a chunk out and make a feature.

It'd be called "Babylon 5: __________________________" to indicate that the setting is that of the "Babylon 5" universe.

__________________
Mac Breck (KoshN)
-----------------------------
"Crusade" (1999) - "War Zone"
Max Eilerson: "The story of my life. I finally find a city like this, intact, deserted for ten thousand years. Probably contains hundreds of patents that I could exploit and I'm going to die. I can appreciate dramatic irony as much as the next person, but this is pushing it a bit."

I'm disappointed that we haven't had a continuation and resolution of Crusade in ANY form and that TNT-Atlanta hasn't been swallowed by a sinkhole.

__________________
Mac Breck (KoshN)
-----------------------------
"Crusade" (1999) - "War Zone"
Max Eilerson: "The story of my life. I finally find a city like this, intact, deserted for ten thousand years. Probably contains hundreds of patents that I could exploit and I'm going to die. I can appreciate dramatic irony as much as the next person, but this is pushing it a bit."